Your Uncommon Wisdom Daily Experts

Commodities and Currencies Analyst

“JR” specializes in trading commodities, currencies and options. He has spent almost 10 years analyzing financial markets and writing about global economics. JR honed his trading techniques and global-macro worldview alongside his father, Jack Crooks, at Black Swan Capital. JR also helped guide individual investors at Money and Markets as well as The Sovereign Society. Previously, he was a contributing editor to Larry Edelson’s Gold Trader Hotline. More Information »

Brad Hoppmann’s Services

Retirement and Income Specialist

Nilus Mattive has been obsessed with dividend-paying stocks since the sixth grade. He’s not sure exactly what inspired him — it could have been the movie Wall Street or the popular T.V. show character Alex P. Keaton (played by Michael J. Fox) — but one day Nilus came home from school and said he wanted to buy five shares of IBM with his savings. Although the family had never owned stock before, his parents were happy to help him set up an account. Nilus continued investing all the way through college, where he triple-majored in philosophy, theology, and English. “Everyone kept telling me philosophers end up flipping burgers … so I figured I better become a really good investor,” Nilus jokes. “And as a side note, Bill Miller, the only fund manager to beat the S&P 500 15 years in a row, studied philosophy!” More Information »

Nilus Mattive’s Services

Analyst and Editor for Uncommon Wisdom Daily

Grant agrees with the idea of Wall Street being “a rigged game.” After all, most of us are bombarded with stories about the unfairness of Wall Street. He ought to know, he was part of an elite team of traders at Charles Schwab. He was also the lead researcher and head trader at a private wealth management firm with more than $1 billion in assets. His rolodex contains the names and numbers for hundreds of Wall Street industry insiders.